The Springbok women will play against a women’s interprovincial squad at Newlands on Saturday, in a curtain raiser to the Stormers’ Super Rugby clash against the Force, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) said on Wednesday.

A group of 24 Springbok women gathered in Cape Town on Wednesday for a four-day training camp, in preparation for the International Rugby Board (IRB) Women’s Rugby World Cup in France in August.

“We made a commitment last year when we qualified for the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup that we will do everything possible to ensure that the players are well prepared for the tournament, and these camps play an important role in this process,” said Saru general manager of high performance Rassie Erasmus.

“The players have been training hard in the last few months with the satellite coaches in their respective provinces, but it is vital that they have the opportunity to gel as a unit before the World Cup.”

The training group, under the guidance of coach Lawrence Sephaka, excludes the Springbok Sevens players who are in Amsterdam preparing for the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series on Friday and Saturday.

A full-strength Springbok women’s squad will be selected in the next few weeks to travel to London on June 25 for two warm-up matches against the Nomads, followed by a trip to France for a match against World Cup hosts and pool contenders France on July 4.

A separate Saru women’s interprovincial squad of 22 players was named and will train on their own in the next few days.